


Warm

by returntosaturn



Series: Sometimes [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Pre-Epilogue Mockingjay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2014-01-03
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:55:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/returntosaturn/pseuds/returntosaturn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was silent for several minutes, both of them swaying under a shaft of soft sunlight through the glass.</p>
<p>“I’m not frightened anymore,” she said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warm

She’d finally grown accustomed to the idea of children. It had been a battle for Peeta to get his way. Effie and Haymith had gone through a drama of losing a baby once, and deciding finally that they were both too old for the things anyways. Katniss felt old. And the churning in her belly with the summer heat made her feel even worse.

She clutched a sack of flour, a carton of new strawberries, and a paper-wrapped square of new soap in a brown sack. Peeta would’ve chided her for carrying heavy groceries—or making her own plate at dinner for that matter. She wasn’t even showing, and he was already hovering over her constantly.

Though the air was sticky and hot, it was welcomed. Being out of the house was soothing. She brushed her damp bangs out of her eyes as she neared Victors’ Village, feeling the familiar protest in her heart at the thought of being home again. It was a quiet and calm place, but for Katniss it was sometimes claustrophobic and the air was too heavy with memories. Peeta knew it, and encouraged her to take walks; even if he worried while she was away, he knew it was healthy for her to get out.

She was thankful for him. After eight years, the nightmares were fewer and when they did happen, they weren’t nearly as intense. They’d learned how to deal with one another. For Peeta, all it took was their hands clasped beneath the sheets, her grey eyes staring his blue ones, grounding him. For Katniss, she rose from bed to shake the smell of smoke and manufactured flowers in the arena laid against dark skin. He always found her in the empty bedroom, the one that overlooked the road. He never asked what she was watching for.

It wasn’t just that they could deal with one another’s demons, or even that he was an excellent cook. She was head over heels for the boy with the bread, and no longer was it fear or leverage that held them together. It was the only real thing Katniss had anymore, and she wouldn’t be afraid to seize it. Too much time had already been wasted.

When she reached her doorstep, fear gripped her. A shout came from inside, past the curtained windows and the delicate, cracked wood of the back door. A plead, a threat. Peeta’s voice.

She shoved her way inside, the sack she’d been carrying abandoned by the doorframe.

Peeta was in the corner, hands over his head, cowering beneath Haymitch who stood a few paces back, hulking over him.

Quickly, she took inventory of the room. The dining room had been converted to a drawing room for Peeta. Canvases that had been on easels were now broken on the floor, their wooden frames smashed and the material slashed or punched through. The thin cream-colored curtains on the wide window had been yanked down, hanging from several rings. A cup of dirty water leaked over the wooden floor.

She sprung forward, gripping the collar of Haymitch’s shirt to shove him away. They struggled, Haymitch trying to push her out of the room, and she trying to get to Peeta’s cowering form. For a moment she wanted to hurt him, but when she saw the uncertainty and fear in his eyes, she backed off.

She knelt before her husband, still shaking visibly with his hands in his hair. She gripped both of them, bringing them down between them. 

“You’re ok,” she said. “You’re ok.”

He sobbed, a weak and strained sound.

There hadn’t been an episode like this in years.

“Peeta,” she demanded as gently as he voice would allow. “Its Katniss. You’re ok. You’re here with me. We’re in District 12. We’re in our house. Haymitch is here. Can you tell me what happened?”

She could feel Haymitch slowly edging out of the room, lingering in the doorway that led to the living room.

“You’re fine,” she said, but Peeta spoke over her.

“I’m so sorry,” he cried thinly. “I—“

She waited, combing her fingers through his blonde hair. It had grown long and needed a cut.

“I thought he was…Gah…I’m sorry.” He breathing was becoming normal, his tears now dry. “I thought he was a mutt. Damn it…” His blue eyes caught the afternoon sunlight when they flickered toward the uncovered window. She cupped his cheek as his eyes darted, taking in the state of his room.

“I just lost it.” He swallowed and lowered his chin in shame.

Katniss stood in one stride, rounding on Haymitch.

“Did you--!” she started, but Peeta spoke quickly.

“Katniss, he didn’t hurt me. It was my fault. I just…He was just bringing the mail.” He braced himself on the wall behind him, standing, favoring his good leg.

“Its on the table,” was all Haymitch said before he backed out. Katniss waited for the door to click.

Immediately, Peeta shuffled to the window, preparing to string the curtain back up. But Katniss was at his side, her arms around him. She tucked her head in the crook of his neck. The air was entirely too heavy and hot to be this close, but she didn’t care. 

“You don’t have to…” she began, but he squeezed her tight, silencing her. 

She was silent for several minutes, both of them swaying under a shaft of soft sunlight through the glass.

“I’m not frightened anymore,” she said. His fingers caught her chin.

“I was so scared,” she continued. “I still didn’t want this baby. I hate bringing it into all of this, and I thought we were in a good place. I thought we were ok enough…”

Peeta glanced away, his fingers slackening.

She turned him towards her again. “But I’m not scared anymore. Because I know that you were right when you said he or she…she won’t have to do this. We’re bringing her into a different world. A new beginning.”

“A new beginning where her father could snap at any moment.”

“So could her mother,” Katniss said. “And that’s a risk we’ll take. We’ve always lived with risks, haven’t we? I’m supposed to be the doubtful one, you can’t steal it.”

Peeta smiled, but not widely.

“I’ve realized that its never going to be perfect. But if we hold it back, we let them win.”

Peeta’s eyes looked outside again. He nodded.

“And we’ll love her,” he said. “A life full of love. Where it doesn’t cease and its never a game piece. We can give her that.”

She bent her head into the crook of his neck. “You’ve given it to me,” she said.

His breath was hot when it blew down her collar. “Katniss…” he whispered, holding her.

The mess around them went uncleaned until evening when Peeta had gone upstairs for a shower. She remembered that on days when there was an outburst, he was usually fatigued long afterwards. But the cornbread he’d baked with their stew seemed to clear his head.

The scent filled the house, and as Katniss tossed out the ruined canvases, she found that she could not escape it. There was something stable, comforting about it. There would never be a clean, tidy life. But it could be warm, it could be sweet. If she let it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is really supposed to be added onto another work called Sometimes, but it didn't feel right to add another chapter to that one, so I made this into a series. There may be more of these in the future. In no particular order, just snip-its of life.


End file.
